Thomas Edison, Eclipse Chaser!

On This Episode

The great inventor was just one of many men and women who made their way across the American West to view and document the total solar eclipse of 1878. Edison would test a new heat-detecting instrument. Vassar astronomer Maria Mitchell and her female colleagues demonstrated that women could conduct science under difficult conditions. Former NPR science reporter David Baron’s American Eclipse: A Nation’s Epic Race to Catch the Shadow of the Moon and Win the Glory of the World tells their stories. Emily Lakdawalla and Planetary Society CEO Bill Nye also report from the final frontier.

Liveright

American Eclipse: A Nation’s Epic Race to Catch the Shadow of the Moon and Win the Glory of the World

Vassar College

Maria Mitchell and her students

Stereopticon of Vassar College astronomer Maria Mitchell and her students viewing the 1876 total solar eclipse in Denver, Colorado.